Let Love Be the Strong Part

So we are at the last part. Paul says: be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. And then he adds one more line. “Let all that you do be done in love.”

Basically the whole track comes down to this last line.

Let me be honest with you. For me the first four are easier. I can be watchful. I can stand firm. I can push through hard times and feel strong. But doing it all in love, that is where I fail. That is where I snap at my wife. That is where I go quiet and cold instead of kind. So this one is not theory for me.

Let’s take a look at what love actually is.

Most people think love is a feeling. You feel warm towards someone, so you say “I love them”. Then the feeling goes away and we say the love is gone. That is not how the Bible talks about love.

Here is how I see it now: love is your joy in the Lord expressed towards others at great expense to yourself. Read it again in your own mind. Joy in Jesus first. Then it flows out. And it costs you something. Time, comfort, being right, your evening, your money. If it costs you nothing, it is probably just politeness.

Now look at 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. Paul starts by saying something strong. You can preach, you can have faith that moves mountains, you can give away everything you own. If you don’t have love, you are nothing. Love is not the extra on top. Love is the foundation under everything else.

Then he shows us what it looks like. Love is patient. That is how you react when things go wrong. Love is kind. That is what you choose to do towards people. Love does not envy and does not boast. So it does not compare itself to others and does not need applause. Love is not arrogant and not rude. It stays humble and treats people with respect. Love does not insist on its own way. That one hits me. Love can let go of control and let go of needing to win the argument. Love is not irritable and does not keep score. It does not hold a list of what you did to me last year. Love does not enjoy wrong but rejoices with the truth. It builds people up instead of tearing them down. And love bears, believes, hopes, endures all things. It never quits on people.

That is a high standard. If I am honest, I cannot manufacture that from my own strength. Nobody can.

Now here is where it connects to acting like a man. Paul says “act like men” in chapter 16, and in chapter 13 he says “when I became a man, I gave up childish ways”. Think about that. Children are impatient. Children get jealous. Children are rude and demand their own way. Does that sound familiar? It sounds like me last Tuesday, haha.

There are two ways to be childish with your strength. One is passivity, holding everything back to protect yourself. The other is aggression, using your strength to get what you want. Both are childish. Real manhood, real adulthood, is using your strength for others. It is sacrifice. That is exactly what Jesus did. He was the strongest man who ever lived and He laid down His life for people who did not deserve it.

I want to add one thing about fathers, because it matters even if you are not one yet. Fathers carry God’s own title. Kids learn what God the Father is like partly from their dad. So when a father is patient and kind and present, he paints a good picture of God. When he is angry and distant, the child gets a wrong picture. This is heavy, but it is true.

So what do we do with all this? Try harder? No. Trying harder will only exhaust you. I tried that for years and it produced nothing but frustration.

The answer is receiving first. 1 John 4:19 says “we love, because He first loved us”. Not the other way around. God is love, and love starts with Him. Romans 5:8 says that God proved His love for us while we were still sinners. He did not wait for you to clean up. Jesus already laid down His life. That is done.

Basically, you cannot give what you do not have. If you have never received His love, you will run dry trying to love people. So you abide in Him. You stay there. You let His love fill you, and then it flows out of you towards people naturally. Not to earn His love, but because you already have it.

If you have never received Jesus, receive Him today. Don’t try harder first. Believe that what He did on the cross counts for you. That is where everything starts.

Everything you do this week, do it from that place. You are loved. Now love out of it.

Here is one thing to do this week. Every morning, ask Jesus one question: “Lord, who do You want to love through me today?” Then do one concrete thing for that person. Something that costs you real time or real comfort.

You can only give away what you have received.